


Just Look

by MissFay7



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee, Fluff, Food, Gardens & Gardening, Gen, Holidays, covid awareness, past emotional abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:22:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28282377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissFay7/pseuds/MissFay7
Summary: Logan and Virgil get to know one another at college.  Just a very fluffy, slice of life, analogical comfort fic.  Some real-life-style joy.
Relationships: Analogical - Relationship, Logan + Virgil, Platonic Analogical
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20
Collections: Sanders Sides 2020 Gift Exchange





	Just Look

_ "here" _

Virgil hits send on the text and looks up from his phone to the entrance of the campus garden. 

It's a warm morning for September, so he's wearing some loose jeans, a grey t-shirt and the new mask he just got in the mail - black with a picture of vampire fangs on it. He hangs out awkwardly by the front entrance for a couple minutes until Logan appears from inside. He's wearing jeans, too, with a long-sleeve white shirt and gardening gloves on. A dark green mask is hanging from one ear. It swings when he nods Virgil in.

"Come on in. I tried waving, but you couldn't see me," he says, turning around to lead the way.

"Sorry," Virgil says, hopping to follow close behind. Logan turns his head back, looking confused for a second. Then his eyes crinkle and he smiles.

"Oh, no worry." 

They walk in quietly. There are only a couple other people in the garden this weekend, and they're on the opposite side from the plot Logan leads him to. The rows of plants loom all around. Virgil doesn't exactly have a green thumb, so he was already skeptical when Logan invited him to come out here, but at least he had seemed to understand he wouldn't be getting any great help. 

Logan kneels down on a blue foam board, putting a hand on an identical one to his left. Virgil drops onto it with a thump.

"I haven't really been around anyone; do you want me to put my mask back on while we work?" Logan asks.

"Nah, I haven't really either. I was able to get most of my classes online now." Virgil settles into his spot and pulls his mask off, looping it onto his arm for safekeeping.

"Okay, I'm here. What's the plan, teach?" Virgil looks around at the tools spread out around them. Logan claps his hands together once and smiles.

"So glad you asked. We're going to try some root vegetables this semester." Logan points out each tray of seedlings in turn. "Beets, turnips, green onions, kohlrabi, radishes, and parsnips. Although I hear broccoli also does really well this time of year. Did you know if you leave it alone, broccoli will bloom into flowers?"

“Huh.” Virgil stares at the trays. "Really?"

"It's true. We can get a head of it from the store later. Just put it in water and it should work."

Virgil picks up the first tray and wonders if buying broccoli would count as getting himself flowers.

Logan starts going over the plan and tells him the names of all the tools. Shears. Weed puller. Hand rake. He shows him how deep to dig, how to remove the seedlings from the tray, how to space them out using their hands as measuring sticks, and how much to water each one. 

"I didn't bring any gloves," Virgil says when he realizes Logan is still wearing a pair.

"Not a problem. I'm done weeding, so I don't actually need these anymore." Logan says, pulling off the gloves and putting them in his back pocket. "It's better if we work with our bare hands anyway, thanks for reminding me. I'll explain why in a minute."

They get to work. Virgil's head is spinning but he grits his teeth and digs each little hole as carefully as he can. All the while, Logan is talking about the dirt in astounding detail.

"-Mycobacterium vaccae. It's incredible, really. They live in the soil, and studies have shown that just touching it can raise a person's serotonin levels. And a doctor who gave her cancer patients regular doses of it found that they were happier and livelier. It did not help with the cancer, unfortunately, but exhaustion is one reason cancer is so hard to beat. When they tested it on rats, the study said it was like they were on antidepressants."

Virgil tries to listen and work at the same time but after the third time Logan has to remind him the tiny shovel is called a trowel, Virgil rubs his eyes.

"Logan? For real, why did you ask me to come help you. I don't know what I'm doing." Virgil asks, looking lost. 

"I know that," Logan says. "That's why I wanted to show you."

"What, because I'm clueless?"

"No, because it can help you. That's why I've been talking about M. vaccae."

"About what?"

"My-ko-back-tear-ree-um-vah-key," Logan claps along. "The microbes. In the dirt! It can literally make you happier. You mentioned the other day how anxious you've been since classes started up again. Not to mention that the repetitive nature of this kind of physical work has also been proven to help people relax. It provides something to focus on and allows for time to practice mindfulness."

"Oh. That's kind of awesome." Virgil looks around like he's seeing the garden again for the first time. 

"Right? When it gets cold, the club is going to set up a greenhouse with the architecture students. That way, even on the worst days, you could come out here and work off some stress. I'm already here all the time, so you don't have to worry about fending for yourself. And that tree there, the evergreen, the garden club says we'll get to decorate it in December. I'm interested to see how they'll get power all the way out here." Logan squints, no doubt imagining an elaborate series of inappropriately used extension cords.

Virgil stills for a moment. Logan gets back to planting, looking over at him once or twice. The man is clearly trying to figure something out. Logan recognizes that look very well. Eventually, Virgil makes up his mind.

"I had an ex," he says, "who used to tell me, every time I was having a terrible day, 'Don't worry. This isn't the worst day ever. It's just the worst day,  _ so far. _ ' Every time."

Logan scoffs and looks at him with both eyebrows raised. Virgil rolls his eyes and shrugs. 

"I am certainly no expert," Logan offers, "but that doesn't seem very comforting."

"It was not, no," Virgil shakes his head. He focuses on getting exactly the right depth of soil in the ground for the next seedling.

"That's… not okay," Logan says. When Virgil doesn't respond, he leans forward to try to catch his eye. 

"It's not," he says again.

Virgil just shrugs again, sparing him a quick glance.

"I mean, he's not wrong. There  _ are _ always going to be worse days." He seems to slump a little as he tries to explain it. Logan is shaking his head already.

"While that is  _ technically _ possible, it's biased toward an overly negative outlook. There will also be better days ahead. Great days, even. And anticipating a bad future when you're already feeling bad about the present is only going to make things seem more impossible to overcome. 

"I mean, he always said it like it was  _ supposed _ to be comforting. Like a joke, to lighten the mood. It just… didn't work for me." Virgil looks at Logan, searching his face.

"If that was supposed to be a joke, let's hope he never gets into comedy." Logan shook his head harder this time. "I can't imagine why someone would say something so cold. And repeatedly. And when it didn't even work as intended? Honestly, okay, now I'm a little annoyed, what the heck? Did he  _ want _ you to feel bad? Ridiculous." 

"Maybe he did." Virgil says. Logan looks at him, shocked.

"Maybe he did want you to feel bad?" Logan realizes maybe this story is a little deeper than his dismissive attitude is suited for. 

"I don't know, sometimes I just," Virgil sighs. "I don’t know how to explain why he did things, really. Any of it." He stares at his lap, biting the inside of his mouth. 

Logan softens, just a bit. 

"Well. I hope it's alright if I confess, I'm glad he's your ex," he says. "He sounds mean." Virgil smiles, but keeps his eyes down. 

"Sorry I made it weird," he says.

"It's not weird. It's just… life." Logan says, bumping their shoulders together. Virgil hums and stretches.

They work in silence for a few minutes, making their way slowly down the rows. After a while, Virgil tsks and looks at Logan's handiwork. Each plant is spaced out so evenly, it almost looks like a video game farm. 

"How did you learn so much about gardening?"

"Community service." Logan says offhand. Virgil blinks and turns his full attention on him.

"What?" He huffs out the question. Logan doesn't seem to have heard him. 

"Also, from Marideth Sisco," he continues. "She does a podcast on NPR. Have you heard it? Sometimes I catch it in the morning, but I can never quite figure out their broadcast schedule."

"Wait-" Virgil is grinning now.

"I guess I could look it up." Logan pauses for a second, deep in thought. Then he shrugs, apparently giving up. "I haven't really tried that hard." 

Virgil puts a hand on Logan's shoulder. The man looks up, hands still digging in the earth methodically.

"Logan. Listen to me, this is important. You've done community service?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Yup!" Logan waits a second, glancing down at the plants and wondering if that answer is going to be enough. Virgil just stares at him, shaking a little from a chuckle. 

"Your hand is really warm," Logan notices out loud.

Virgil snatches it away and shoves both hands into the loose dirt, gripping handfuls of it. For the microbes, he tells himself. 

"Stop deflecting!" he says, staring hard at his fistfuls of soil. "What did you do community service for? Oh, wait, was it like a volunteer program?" He tilts his head, waiting for Logan to respond. His smile drops when he sees Logan's face.

He looks so, so pensive. 

Virgil's  _ really  _ excited now. Wide-eyed wonder levels of excitement.

"Logan, what did you do?"

Logan heaves a sigh, rubbing the side of his neck in agitation. 

"I…" he starts before sighing again. "I may have set… a  _ small _ fire… to the science lab when I was in high school. And even though I didn't mean to, obviously!- they didn’t take too kindly to it since I was, uh, there… after normal school hours."

"What do you mean "after hours", like… at night? Like, you broke in?" Virgil's whisper is becoming downright conspiratorial.

Logan looks vaguely embarrassed. He presses his lips together and sits up, planting his hands on his thighs and slouching. Virgil is practically vibrating at this point.

"You broke into the school to do rogue science and ended up setting the building on fire?!"

"Well, Virgil!" Logan brings a clenched fist down on his own knee with a huff. "They wouldn't let me access the chemicals I needed for my experiment! At least not in any reasonable quantity. I had to break in!"

"Oh, my god, Logan. You rebel. You absolute troublemaker, you're a delinquent!" Virgil puts a hand to his mouth to cover up his laughter.

"I am not, jeez. It was one time!" He can't help it, he's smiling. "That is, at least-" He crosses one arm and puts a hand to his chin, looking at Virgil sidelong with a smirk in his eyes. "-they only  _ caught  _ me the one time." 

That's the last straw. Virgil starts cackling and Logan glances around to see if the other student gardeners have noticed. They have, and the looks on their faces just make him join the laughter, doubling over to hide his face behind Virgil. 

"How many-?"

"Shut up!"

"Oh, my goodness-"

They bump shoulders again and Virgil rolls onto his side on the ground, laughing so hard the corners of his eyes are wet.

After a few minutes they compose themselves and keep working, giggling every now and then. 

"One tray left," Logan announces, putting the seedlings between them. 

Virgil leans over and Logan thinks for a second the man is going to headbutt him. He is rather cat-like, after all. But, instead, he feels something pinch his shoulder and tug on him. Virgil has a corner of his shirt between his teeth and he's baring his teeth up at him. He growls, smiling, and Logan barks out a laugh.

“What are you doing?" He swears he can see Virgil's pupils dilate. But the man just releases him without a word and gets back to work like nothing happened. Logan watches him, the gears in his head spinning on all cylinders. 

"What are you waiting for, Lo? Let's finish up so we can get some lunch. My treat. I gotta thank you for showing me all this, somehow." Virgil doesn't look up to see if Logan's going to respond this time. 

Logan's feet are bouncing underneath him. 

"Deal," he says and grabs the next seedling.

**Epilogue**

Virgil is standing with his back to a snow covered dormitory, looking up at the full moon through the steam of his breath. The cold air on his eyes feels clean and brittle. He tugs a hood tighter around his head.

A door closes behind him and he turns to see Logan in a bomber jacket and a beanie, lightly kicking the front porch to get his boot on right. He crunches salt on the ramp and joins Virgil on the sidewalk. 

“Ready?” Virgil asks, knowing the answer.

Logan smiles and offers his elbow. His glasses are already starting to fog up.

“Oh, so fancy,” Virgil teases him. He smirks as he loops his mittened hand through Logan’s elbow.

“Lead the way,” Logan gestures down the street with his free arm. “I can’t see a thing.”

“Yeah… it’s this way.” Virgil tugs him in the opposite direction and they make their way toward the center of town. 

When Virgil spots Orion, Logan tells him how to navigate at night by finding due south. When Logan hears a cat chirping in the brush, Virgil tells him about the Egyptian goddess Bastet, and how black cats really get a bad rep nowadays. They talk and laugh and go a couple streets too far but pretty soon they’re back on track, no worse off for missing their own timeline. 

Most of the students are back home for the holidays now and the chill keeps much of the rest of town from making an appearance. They take their time looking at the decorations in each business’s display windows, strings of lights crisscrossing overhead. They dash across to the town square in between meandering cars, slipping on the ice and laughing from the adrenaline. 

Logan quiets when Virgil comes to a stop and sees colors blinking across his upturned face. He turns to find they’ve arrived. Towering over them is the largest evergreen he’s ever seen, every square inch covered in lights and bows and wreaths. He takes a deep breath, the cold air filling his lungs, and lets it all out.

“Wow.”

Virgil has a smug look on his face as he gazes up at the tree. Logan bumps their shoulders together.

“Hey,” he whispers. “Thanks for showing me around. And thanks for being my friend.”

“Dude, stop being weird.” Virgil shoots Logan a look and starts tugging on his jacket strings absentmindedly. “You don’t have to thank people for things like that.” 

“Well, a little clarity never hurt anyone.” Logan adjusts his glasses as if that settled things.

“...Fair enough. Let’s go get some coffee. I know a place.” 

Logan just nods quickly, realizing he’s shivering. They make their way up the next block and duck through a glass door, getting blasted by the warm smell of coffee and cinnamon. It’s good. 

It’s so good.

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of 3 pieces I did for the 2020 sanderssidesgiftxchange event on tumblr. Thank you to Sage for the prompts.


End file.
